“It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.”

–

Carl von Clausewitz

===================

“Don’t die hesitating.”

–

Unknown

============

Ok.

‘More people die hesitating’ is a metaphor <I think>. But I like it. Hesitation is pretty much the bane of everyone’s existence. We hesitate in Life and we hesitate in business. Surprisingly, more often than not, our hesitation is actually a reflection of calculation than it is any real fear of action.

Yup.

We think too much.

We more often than not hesitate to assess, calculate our next move and ‘be smarter’ as we move forward.

Unfortunately that hesitation also means we become a sitting duck for Life to shoot us where we stand. This is a corollary to “if you are stationary, you will not survive.” Its a corollary because that quote mostly refers to stagnancy and , in this case, this is simply non movement moments in a typically moving frame of reference. What this means is if someone is paying attention and you hesitate, they can kill you. Or. If you hesitate in the midst of chaotic movement you may get smashed by some other object simply because you didn’t shift out of its way.

Anyway.

Life, and business, is fairly consistent with regard to how it allocates Time to us. It places shit in front of us … moment after moment … minute by minute … hour by hour … and says “decide.” This means time is allocated with something within it not ‘nothing.’

What that means is there is rarely any space allocated for hesitation. In other words, there is rarely time for hesitation.

Regardless of whether you look at life as short … or as long as how much stuff you fill it with … you are demanded to use Life as well as you can and more often than not you are penalized if you hesitate.

Whew. When I read what I just wrote I am tempted to conclude we should not hesitate … like … EVER.

I start leaning even more in that direction of thought because I tend to believe if you look upon your Life and find reasons why you may not be where you want to be, besides some general incompetence, you will most likely find a time & place where you hesitated. But we shouldn’t conclude that because hesitation in exactly the right moment can actually save you from making some misstep or mistake.

What I will say is hesitation trips you up all the time <and sometimes in some very stealthy sneaky ways>. Hesitation is always standing nearby waiting to give you a gift that keeps giving … and most likely a gift you didn’t ask for nor want.

Here is the reality.

Sometimes you shouldn’t pause and think in general.

Sometimes you shouldn’t pause and think, specifically, … “maybe I should not do this because …”

Sometimes you just gotta go … whether you are ready or not.

===

“You’re never going to be 100% ready and it’s never going to be just the right time, but that’s the point. It means that every moment is also the right moment. If you want it, you just have to do it.”

All moments remind you that nothing is ever perfect in Life and Life actually demands you take imperfect scenarios and constantly make imperfect decisions & choices.

===

I was dying to

hear

someone say

That I didn’t need

to try so hard to be perfect,

That I was enough

and

it was okay”

—

Kuffr

===

I imagine I agree that, metaphorically, more people die … their dreams, their aspirations, their ‘good things they deserve’ … because of hesitation than anything else.

I imagine I think the root of most hesitation, beyond true thoughtfulness, is assessment of preparedness … and in general … we suck at that assessment <we seek as often as possible to get as close to perfection – to limit risk – prior to moving on>.

I imagine I should just close by saying that, generally, hesitation is dangerous.

It could kill you.

It could kill your dreams.

It could kill what could be.

But.

Here is the good news.

With the sheer number of possible decisions & choices Life throws at you every day you will have an opportunity to not hesitate in the very near future <assuming, of course, your last hesitation didn’t kill you>.

What I can tell you is that you should hesitate with care because hesitation, more often than not, may not actually kill you but will kill something that matters to you (what you want, a dream, hope, progress, etc.).

There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair.

That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling… “

—

Aldous Huxley

=====

Life truths.

Hard and lightly.

Haste with patience.

Forward diagonally.

Happy and sad.

Success and failure.

Right and wrong.

Thinking and doing.

Dreams and hard work.

Whew. This means that the truly great things in Life may be a coin you can put in your pocket — a coin made up of two sides and two faces.

Yeah. Life is usually a combination of opposites fighting a tug of war moment to moment. I bet no one told you that. Far too often we are told the secret to life is one thing. Far too often someone is not telling is the truth <or maybe they don’t really know the secret to life?>.

Th truth is Life <and business also> is a wonderful, maddening blob of inconsistency.

The only way to survive , and not be totally boring, inept or a hermit, is to steal a little of something from both sides and do your best to balance it all out in the end.

Balance?

I need some sadness to recognize true joy <only I certainly don’t want to dwell on sadness nor walk around as Happy the Clown every minute of the day>.

I want a leader who is energetic and demanding and cajoling, pushing, shoving, pulling, inspiring people toward a horizon < but I want the moments of idle strength and compassion intertwined>.

I want to work hard … so hard the muscles, brain and/or physical, are strained and hurt … and get to maybe get a glimpse of one of my dreams on occasion <so I can dream a little when not working hard>.

I want people to play hard and play to win <in any endeavor> … but do so with grace in victory & loss, with sportsmanship & fairness and respect for the game.

I want … well … it doesn’t matter what I want. Pick your ‘hard-lightly’ Life combination. I guarantee you will find the most interesting people, most interesting experiences, most interesting moments, most interesting anythings … are a reflection of this ying-yang combination. Life is meant to be lived, and experienced, hard & lightly.

Now. By the way.

Just because Life is meant to be lived this way doesn’t mean it is easy to actually live it that way. Living hard, or living lightly, is not only addictive but also often generates a sense of ‘lostness’ when shelved for a bit.

Why lostness?

Well. It is mostly fear that we will not refind or regain it … therefore we hesitate to ever let it go from the way we currently live our Life.

So what do we do? We ‘take a break.’

We ‘get away from it all.’ In other words instead of seeking some ‘how we actually live’ balance in our lives we just step away from the way we live our Life by simply not going lightly <if we typically go hard> or not going go hard <if we typically go lightly> … we don’t do anything other than how we live our Life … we just choose to do nothing to ‘recharge.’

I would suggest that you don’t need to ‘take a break’ to recharge but rather if you seek the ‘yang’ to your ‘ying’ … well .. you will find additional purpose as well as your ‘ying’ takes on an entirely new image n your eyes & mind.

Regardless … just approaching Life one way means you miss out on what is most interesting in life … going hard & lightly.

Aw shit. Look. All I really know if that if you can figure out how to go hard … and tread lightly at the same time … you will most likely be successful in business & in Life. You will most likely be appreciated, respected, sometimes liked and certainly not hated. I know … I know … the ‘tread lightly’ part is really really hard if you like to live Life going hard.

But.

As I just told someone … go hard for the things you want and dreams you seek to reach toward and if you continue to do these things for you, knowing that your moral compass is set correctly and that your instincts with regard to ‘what is right’ versus ‘what is wrong’ are good, you will be happier and the people around you will rarely be disappointed.

“But today’s society is characterized by achievement orientation, and consequently it adores people who are successful and happy and, in particular, it adores the young.

It virtually ignores the value of all those who are otherwise, and in so doing blurs the decisive difference between being valuable in the sense of dignity and being valuable in the sense of usefulness.”

―

Viktor E. Frankl

=============

“The world has changed so much.

You’re either doing really well and everyone expects you should leave to take what they perceive to be a better job – or you’re not doing well and you should get fired.

The job is a good fit. You do a quality job, be successful, you have good times and great times – the overwhelming feeling in our country is you can’t do that. That’s not possible.

You either need to be climbing or you need to get fired.”

——

Ben Jacobson <the basketball head coach of Northern Iowa Panthers>

================

(originally written in 2015)

So.

I am all for outcomes.

I am also all for ‘valiant attempts’ and I certainly believe trying is significantly more important than not trying … but … at some point … you gotta have some results.

That said. The pendulum in society has swung all the way over to achievement matters. In fact we are in a society where the Value of a person seems to be either driven solely by their outcomes/results or weighted so heavily by the outcomes/results that the effort portion, how hard & how you ‘play the game’,has minuscule value.

That’s bad. Bad for society. Bad for Life lessons. Bad for business. Just bad. It is bad because that means many people will ignore the price they will pay to achieve the outcome because the outcome, in and of itself, will contain all the value.

Yeah. Think about that. Taken to an extreme that would mean the attempt has zero value and trying & failing has zero, if not negative, value.

Ok. That is bad.

======

“But he did not understand the price. Mortals never do.

They only see the prize, their heart’s desire, their dream … but the price of getting what you want, is getting what you once wanted.”

Neil Gaiman

=====

This thought becomes even worse , for society, because it also suggests “what are we willing to do to get what we want” is a zero sum game. What do I mean? Well. You are willing to do anything it takes to get what you want <the achievement>.The hell with rules … they are for people who don’t value achievement enough.

“The hell with guardrails and guidelines! They are for people who are scared to do what it takes.” This attitude cleverly steals away freedom of choice in that it suggests the only choice is the one that ensures achievement. This attitude strips choices of anything truly worthwhile like dignity and respect and humanity because all of those things are not criteria for what is the ultimate value – the result or outcome.

I say all this because by recognizing the enemy, by recognizing the issue or the problem, I can choose to face it. I would suggest that everything can be taken from you but one thing — the freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances and to choose one’s own way in doing things. I would suggest that between any beginning and any end, or outcome; let’s just say that there is a space. And in that space is our power to choose what to do, how to do it and maybe even how to respond to whatever shit happens in that space.

I would argue within that space lies our growth and our freedom and, well, our value. And I believe more of our value is derived from that space than any outcome or number of achievements we will ever make.

I would argue that while achievement actually had three components <a> the initial step into the attempt itself, <b> the ‘space’ or whatever takes place in-between the step that begins and the final step that represents an acceptance that an outcome has occurred and <c> the result itself … it is the wretched hollow in between that defines not only the outcome but who and what we are as a person.

Now. To be clear. All three phases deserve personal credit.

Deciding to make the attempt, to take the step and try, is commendable.

Doing your best during the attempt is commendable.

And an outcome, failure or success, if you have done the best you can do … is commendable.

I am simply saying, should you follow through on all components, that it is the ‘space in between’ that ultimately creates the value.

Regardless. I would argue that we need to remind society of this and businesses for sure. And while this societal attitude may be doing is darndest to blur the decisive difference between being valuable in the sense of dignity and being valuable in the sense of usefulness I tend to believe the rising younger generation of workers, doers and thinkers are sensing the value in “the space”.

I tend to believe that the rising younger generation not only senses, but seeks; you can maintain dignity and achieve usefulness in terms of outcomes. We older folk shouldn’t suffocate this attitude and rather breathe Life into that belief <and empower it so that they can maybe create a generation of business better than the one we created>.

Look.

Results do matter. Achieving an outcome is important. And ‘winning’ is always preferable to ‘losing.’ But none of these things should ever come at the expense of dignity, respect and honor.

Achieving with dignity.

Winning with respect.

An honorable outcome.

That should be the definition of an outcome generation … not just ‘achieve, win, outcome above all.’

<insert a sigh here>

I have been trying to avoid using Trump as an example of shit that I write about, but on this topic it is difficult to not do so.

Trump embodies value solely found in outcome <or win>.

Trump embodies the wretchedness of ‘soulless competition.’

Trump embodies winning is all that matters <at the expense of everything else>.

I say that because if society is challenged in its current ‘achievement is all that matters’ focus we will now have as our main role model the epitome of ‘achievement is all that matters.’ For anyone who believes that how you win matters, like I, this is going to be a day in/day out battle for the soul of society.

Everyone deserves to win.

Everyone should have the opportunity to win.

Everyone should experience ‘win.’

But. Everyone needs to remember that the value of ‘the win’ is not in the win itself but rather in the space that exists between that first step and the actual outcome.

In the end.

The pendulum in society has certainly swing way over to achievement orientation and not with any real benefit (that I can discern) with regard to increased, or even enhanced, outcomes & results. In fact. It seems like in our enthusiasm for results we have stripped the meaning out of any results we have actually achieved. To me, that seems like hollow achievement which then translates into a hollowing of society on a grander scale. Yes. This is leading to a grander narrative around Purpose & meaningfulness but it would behoove us to have a tough discussion over achievements & how we have an unhealthy fixation on achievements in society.

Seek and you will find may be one of the most misleading sayings of all time.

<I say this with apologies to Matthew who said in the bible … “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” … in other words .. God can always be found, but must be sought out>

Except for faith, seeking doesn’t guarantee you will find shit. That is not to say there isn’t beauty in the seeking. Seeking is actually like a free ticket on a rollercoaster ride of thoughts. Every day you step onto the rollercoaster where it is an entirely new ride with an entirely new thrill with new heights and ups, downs, overs and unders. Whether you consider this a thrill or not <or simply ‘angst’> you also encounter the thrill of losing, finding, uncovering, discovering as well as expectations met and unmet. Yet, I would like to note, 99.999% of the time you survive the rollercoaster and get up the next day and get on again.

Seeking, in and of itself, can be maddeningly exhilarating and disappointing.

I have always believed you should not only surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but you should also surround yourself with dreams and doing and believing and thinking. But, as a seeker myself, suffice it to say, I have screwed myself over many more times than anyone else ever has or will <if I were to judge myself on the ‘find’ aspect>. I try and find some solace in the discovery scientific research suggests that seeking something actually more often translates into not finding.

Holy shit.That sucks.

This means the more we search for something, the more likely we are to NOT find it. No wonder ‘seek and you shall find’ is a bullshit piece of advice. This actually means seeking, in some form or fashion, may stand in the way of our discovering the truth <ponder that for a second>.

Why could that be? Well. Seeking has some goal in mind. Seeking has something it wants to find. But maybe most importantly … seeking is more often than not rooted in some expectations. And these expectations create some tensions which inevitably hurt you <although they are mostly survivable>. Life typically creates several bars of expectations we all have to navigate as we seek not only answers but being the best version of ourselves.

There are societal expectations. These are most usually absurdly high expectations of which few actually attain. And even if attainable are not attainable on any consistent basis. Therefore, even if you do attain it most likely is a brief glimpse of ‘meeting some absurd expectation which makes me feel fucking great if but only for a moment or two.’

There are personal expectations. Surprisingly these are actually more realistic expectations. Most of us know who and what we are and, in general, know what we are capable of. We set some expectations which are ‘high’ <because we all like to reach and grow and be better tomorrow than we are today> but they are not as absurdly high as the societal expectations. The good news? We attain these on occasion. And we feel pretty good about it <assuming we ignore the absurd societal expectations … and people permit us to ignore the societal expectations>.

There are, well, reality expectations. Reality is reality. Reality ignores what you wish and what you want and simply says “in this time & place this is what is attainable.” Basically reality doesn’t give a shit about what you want or how you set your expectations or even acknowledges any society bullshit … it just is what it is.

By the way we far too often ignore this last one.

Regardless. Expectations are a real sonuvabitch. But if you agree with what I just wrote they are a multi dimensional sonuvabitch. Trying to align these three things in your head is really difficult. Your brain ends up in a weird three way tug of war where truly the only thing that happens is it hurts.

Look.

I am a seeker. I seek information and knowledge and learning in an insatiable quest for more. And maybe because my greater expectation resides solely in ‘more’ I really am not hurt that often in any expectation game. What I mean by that is ‘see and you shall find’ implies … well … some destination … some specific ‘thing to be found.’ With ‘more’ as my destination … well … I have no specific destination.

Aw, shit, what a bunch of philosophical mumbo jumbo bullshit that looks like when I reread it.

Let’s just say expectations are a sonuvabitch. Period. Expectations most likely create more personal pain & angst than anything I can think of off the type of my head. That said. Expectations, most often, are survivable.

Aw shit, what do I know?

Well. Probably not much more tan what I have shared. But I would suggest that in the end your soul, the essence of your character and who and what you are, has the ability to see the subtle beautiful triumphs over expectations that the eyes often miss. So maybe close your eyes on occasion … maybe then you will see how what you simply saw as ‘survive’ was actually a triumph over expectations.

… my grandfather taught me … “… the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

—

Stephen Covey’s grandson

====

Well.

This is about focus and decisions (because if you focus on the wrong decision you are in trouble).

Anyway. When I saw “… the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing” this morning I was reminded how much most of us, young & old, in business suck at this. Yet, it sounds so frickin’ simple … how could we all suck so much at this?

A couple thoughts on that:

– We get distracted.

– The main thing we select is not really the main thing.

Let’s be clear. The ‘main thing’ is the relationship between “what I elect to, or should, focus on” and actual ‘focus’, i.e., the decision and the commitment to the decision. If you get either side of this relationship wrong you may as well accept ‘non success.’

Let me explain the two things.

Distraction.

While what I am now going to say sounds contrary to popular belief — I am not sure life and business is any more distracting now than it was years ago. The props may have changed but, in my view, distractions are distractions and all distractions of any size, quantity or quality are persistent sonuvabitches. In addition. It is this view, the traditionally historical strength of distractions to distract us, that drives my belief that anyone of any age sucks at the main thing remaining the main thing. Distractions test our commitment. And, frankly, I could argue that if you are so easily distracted than it CAN’T be your ‘main thing’ <but I won’t>.

For young people everything is typically incredibly overwhelming as it is, therefore, distractions can be a coping mechanism … relief from the overwhelming or a bad way of coping with overwhelming.

For older people, regardless of experience, it isn’t that things are overwhelming it’s just that you always know that no matter how much you do there is always more to do and that ‘more t do’ will always be there waiting. Therefore we older folk justify the distractions <in our heads> as ‘the main thing may have a deadline but it will not disappear simply because I may elect to ignore it for a minute or two.’

But. Here is the most persistent distraction in business – success in the present.

In a world which is constantly screaming “adapt, adapt, adapt’ it becomes incredibly easy to start following success. And I mean INCREDIBLY EASY. Success is a seductive bastard. And far too often success in the present can look an awful lot like long term success <their costumes look very similar>.

All I can really say is that it is incredibly easy for anyone, at any experience level in business, to get distracted from the ‘main thing.’

Not really the main thing.

Whew. Two aspects of this …

– a main thing based solely on ‘tangible’ <or … let’s say ‘there is a lack of emotional investment regardless of the desire to meet the objective’>

– the main thing is a reflection of a created priority.

First.

Lack of emotional investment.

In business we are infamous for creating tangible milestones and objectives and in doing so we expect people to be emotionally invested in achieving that ‘main thing’ we need to do.
Uhm.

In my mind that is like manufacturing passion or happiness <cannot really be done>. Here I suggest a dose of reality to business people. Don’t try and manufacture emotional shit and accept some things just as they are. I can have milestones, objectives and success criteria … but they don’t have to be ‘the main thing we need to do.’ These are simplyshit that needs to be done.

If something doesn’t have a purpose beyond some number objective it is extremely difficult to have genuine emotional investment. I would actually suggest without emotional investment it really cannot be a ‘main thing.’

Second.

Created priorities.

When you don’t know what you want to do or where you really want to go, inevitably, a priority is created to take the place of those things. That is a created priority.

I am not suggesting they aren’t useful and as transition ‘progress behavior motivators’ they can be excellent tools – but let’s not confuse them with ‘a main thing.’ Yet, we do confuse them again and again <and again>. Created main things, if you are not careful, are rabbit holes. You can follow a ‘created main thing’ as persistently & stubbornly as if it is a real main thing and end up in a really really bad place.

Managers in business are infamous for creating ‘main things’ <and rabbit holes>. What these managers don’t realize is that their employees see right thru the created aspect.

When things do not go as planned far too many times managers step back saying things like “I don’t have the right people to implement the important objectives” or the ones with good intentions focus on the wrong things like ‘I need to learn how to motivate my people’ <only to implement some of the wackiest motivational shit you will ever see>. Not enough enough do managers look in the mirror at the actual stimulus, this ‘main thing’ they’ve identified, and truly challenge whether it really is a ‘main thing’ rather than simply a business objective we need to attain for the good of the business.

Now.

All that said. The ‘main thing’ this young man is referencing in the opening quote is his decision, as a Mormon; to go on mission for two years despite the fact he is having a fabulous year as a wide receiver for the Utah football team.

There is emotional investment.

It is not a created priority.

And while an incredibly powerful persistent distraction poked at him <success in the present>, he, well, remembered the main thing is the main thing.

In the end.

I admit.I came to admire Stephen Covey’s thinking late in Life. Maybe I just needed to mature intellectually to get the nuance of what he tried to tell us or maybe I just didn’t understand the ‘main things’ in business well enough. Regardless, in a different, but still good, way than Peter Drucker, Covey thinking makes for better business minds <and behavior>.

I know I certainly don’t have all the answers and that is why I read and think about words from Toffler, Drucker & Covey — more so than Godin and Gladwell. Business thinking, as well as any type of thinking, is hard work. Covey & the best business thinkers make you think … sometimes almost in such a complex nuanced way that it always seems like it is slightly out of your grasp <versus the more modern business thinkers who tend to offer formulas and soundbites>. I could argue that we need to stop seeking answers and continue to persistently ask questions.

Anyway.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. A twisted but simply important thing to keep in mind.

“I think that last night, fortune was merely inclined to favour the least incompetent.”

——

Richard Woodman

===============

Ok.

Success can be a … well … a deceitful sonuvabitch.

Winning can be a … well … a deceitful sonuvabitch.

Oh. As a result. Madmen who have had some success or wins can be … well … real sonuvabitches <asses>.

Regardless.

They can all be deceitful because it makes madmen not recognize what asses they are or how incompetent the incompetent are. Suffice it to say I have worked in businesses for over 25 years and I have never heard one of the random madmen I have come across admit they were an ass and I have rarely ever heard an incompetent ‘winner’ suggest they were simply the least incompetent that day <or any day that matter>.

Success has that effect on people.

But maybe the most dangerous effect is, for many people, once you have had some any loss seems like a threat to, well, survival. Or … as Clausewitz said:

…victory leads easily to overextension, which leads to defeat.

Uh oh. Defeat is not an option <to madmen & incompetents>. Business people in survival mode tend to shed themselves of any ability to rationally adapt as well as any ability to navigate the ‘unknowns’ inherent to any business world. Instead, most shift into a more desperate effort to fling themselves into any possible path to the next victory.

Ok. Survival may sound extreme but I cannot think of a better word. Suffice it to say that winners think it is a life or death scenario and losing is all about a part of them dying. The ‘part of them’ may partially be confidence but, what the hell, that is a pretty significant part.

Anyway.

Success or failure I do know one thing. Madmen will never say what an ass they are and incompetent people will always believe fortune favors the brave. Unfortunately, that suggests they are unchangeable.

Look.

That alone isn’t so weird <or damning>. In general none of us are particularly good at changing <particularly in their business style & character & skills within business>. And THAT is important because far too many try to change themselves in order to ‘be a winner.’ I am fairly sure it was Peter Drucker who suggested it is significantly more effective to improve upon the way you perform – how you already do what you do<rather than try to fix the bad things you do>

Uh oh. This means <gulp> madmen become more asshole-ish and the incompetent double down on their incompetence. If the mad and the incompetent seek some solace I would note that most people do not really know shit about how they actually get things done.

Shit.

Most of us have no clue how other people do their voodoo <get things done>.

Shit. Most of us don’t really know what we are good at.

Shit. Even worse … most of us misjudge our strengths.

Shit. Even worser <I made that word up> … most of us who have had some success are even worse at misjudging their strengths.

Shit.

The truth is more people actually know what they suck at <not good at>. Oh shit. But even then most people don’t get that exactly right. Holy shit. Suffice it to say we suck at judging ourselves. With all that self-assessment suckedness what do we do? Well, particularly in today’s world, you go the easy path — you simplistically judge off of outcomes <the successes & wins> avoiding any interest in scrutinizing any of the details of how you achieved the outcome.

In fact the details of our success becomes so unimportant in the scheme of things we create a mosh pit of all positive things which COULD have contributed to how good we were in that success. It is a crazy mix of ethics, values & integrity <inextricably tied to the outcome rather than the process> blended with a good amount of curiosity & perseverance & resilience <against the negative tides pushing against our inevitable deserved success> all sprinkled with the necessary “team player” <I thrive when I work closely with others>.

Unfortunately, this mosh pit simply cloaks incompetence, mistakes, errors in judgement and whatever ‘not-so-good shit’ <being a madman> by painting a positive coat of ‘something’ over them <”we weren’t as efficient because I wanted the team involved” or “we pursued this idea out of planned curiosity only to judge it was not the best path” … crap like that>.

Oh shit. This gets worse. Winning tends to concentrate one on doing more of what they perceived they had done to succeed rather than invest any energy on cultivating any additional skills, needs or improvements.

========================

“it takes far more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.”

Peter Drucker

================

What makes that even worse is that translates into madmen concentrating more on ass –like things and incompetents focusing more whatever bumbling they had done.

Anyway. I have found <without any research> people fall into two buckets on this topic – those who focus on the win and those who focus on improvement. I would suggest the madmen and oblivious incompetent fall in the former bucket … and the truly sane business people, with a chance of actually being good, fall into the latter bucket.

I say that because any pivot points in progress tend to become more obvious in reflection than in the actual ‘living’ within the moment.

Therefore, if all I do is focus on the win I will reflect with little true critiquing and most likely remain a madman and incompetent.

Therefore, if all I do is be slightly perpetually dissatisfied with my performance and critique, in a healthy way, I will most likely increase my competency.

The former says “fortune favors the brave.” Always.

The latter says “fortune was merely inclined to favor the least incompetent.” At least on occasion.

Lastly. I would suggest that madmen and the incompetent have one thing in common — lack of meaningful convictions <beyond success at any cost>.

==============

“Convictions are not like gloves; one cannot easily change them.” …

General Petr Grigorevich

==============

Well. “Convictions are not like gloves.” There is a keeper of a thought. Madmen and incompetents are incredibly good at treating convictions like gloves.

Shit. Their convictions are more like chameleons.

I end there because I wish more of us in the business world would keep all of this in mind. Especially the madmen, who are asses, and the incompetent <who win more often than they would like to admit … despite their incompetence>.

Sometimes you can be an ass and it is <generally> okay if you aware enough to sit back and say “what an ass am I!”

Sometimes you can be an incompetent … and its <generally okay if you are aware enough to sit back and say “fortune was merely inclined to favour the least incompetent this time.”

Who am I kidding? No madman has ever said “what an ass am I!” and no incompetent has ever said “fortune was merely inclined to favour the least incompetent this time.”

Freedom, in and of itself, is quite possibly the most valuable privilege one can have in the world.

Freedom, in and of itself, may be one of the most misunderstood and least understood ideas in the world.

Freedom, in and of itself, may be one of the most appealing concepts in the world.

Freedom, in and of itself, once attained may be one of the most difficult concepts, as an individual, to manage in the world.

Freedom is one of those things that should make you think long and hard about what, exactly, do you want? But, yet, many of us do not. And we should.

We should because, at its core, freedom is about liberty of self and what you want. I believe it was John Stuart Mill who stated that the individual “is the person most interested in his own well-being,” and that the “ordinary man or woman has means of knowledge immeasurably surpassing those that can be possessed by any one else.”

What this suggests is that, while freedom may have some societal demands and constraints, the real ‘rule of freedom’ comes from within each individual.

Within?

No fences. No boundaries. Not even a public compass … just one that resides in yourself. Well. This would suggest it could become easy to get lost.

Look. I am not suggesting society would ever permit all of us to actually decide how we wanted to define freedom for our own lives and live our Life in that self-defined way without any repercussions <and there would have to be as each of us pursued ‘our own wellbeing’>.

However. Because you can view from such a personal standpoint and a self interest standpoint it can become incredibly easy to start seeing your own path as <a> the path everyone else should be walking on and <b> the path which reflects the best definition of how freedom should be viewed. In that, well, it can become incredibly easy to get lost within your own views of what is freedom and how you may choose to use your freedom.

I tend to believe freedom is freeing AND constricting at exactly the same time. In addition. The only way to enjoy freedom is to actually do something with it and not just talk about it or enjoy it.

Yeah.

The secret to not being suffocated by freedom is the ability to use that freedom to create something <not simply being free>. I imagine another way of saying that is you can suffocate by not doing anything <or not choosing to choose to use your freedom>.

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“The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret of outward success.”

Henry Ward Beecher

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Ah. Therein lies the rub. Create from freedom.

Sometimes that can seem like creating something from nothing. Freedom encourages ideas and thinking but then … uh oh … Life kind of demands you convert your access to freedom into ‘something.’ It within that ‘demand from Life’ where most people abuse freedom … people choose not to choose.

Now. We do this all the time … choose not to choose. Oddly enough a shitload of people think this is actually exercising your freedom. Go figure.

Not doing something is an expression of freedom.

<scratching my head here>

Some people argue this is an excellent way that we exercise our freedom and flex our choice-making muscles. Either we actually do not make a choice at all or we delegate the choice-making to someone else <sometimes an expert – doctor, banker, service provider> or we just delegate the choice making into the “to be done later” file. In general we have good intentions … we do this because we do not want to invest the energy and time to make a ‘right decision’ <this actually becomes ‘not choosing’, or using your freedom, because of fear of not making the right choice … or using your freedom properly>. And, yes, it is ‘good intentions’ to intentionally avoid making a bad decision.

Sure. Using the overall excuse of “I am too busy” choosing not to choose can often seem to be the best choice because it can sometimes appear to then free us up to do something else. Personally I call bullshit on this type of thinking.

Freedom kind of has two levers or maybe an “on/off” switch … opt in or opt out. Either use your freedom or don’t use it. You either value your choice or you don’t. There really isn’t a lot of room in-between. And, yeah, people will argue with me on this but I am stating it this way because while freedom can far too often look abstract … in reality, in practice, it is anything but abstract.

Doing, action, is at the core of freedom itself.

I have traveled the world and seen freedom and no freedom.

I have traveled the world and seen the arguments and debates and fights over freedom itself <my freedom versus your freedom>.

But here is the deal.

The opportunity to choose is not all that matters. I say that because far too many people who actually have the opportunity <a> do not exercise their freedoms or <b> get bogged down on the debate & conflict of my freedom versus your freedom. Choosing is what matters where freedom is concerned.

That said. As I have said before … surprisingly, freedom is tough. And it is even tougher because you may never really know if you have used your freedom well or wisely.

But here is what I do know.

It will be how you use your freedom which will be immortalized. And, yes, everyone is immortalized. Either through your forgetfulness or lack of memorability or lack of choice or doing something … or how you cannot be forgotten or memorability through how you used your freedom and the choices you made. I say that because immortality will be the stories that are told about what you did with your freedom. That will be the final judge.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm … aybe that is why we get both lost and free within freedom. Given freedom we tend to hug tightly to any boundaries we find for fear of getting lost. But, assuming we actually ‘do shit’ and make choices using our freedom … more and more we start to get a feel for those boundaries and begin pushing them out. Simplistically we push them further and further away from ourselves. At some point if we push them far enough it will feel like there are no boundaries and yet we do not feel lost.

I imagine that is what some people would call “freedom.”Seeing boundaries yet pushing against them to stretch what can “be”. And, yes, I also imagine that it feels good.

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“When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody notices, do not be sad.

For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.”

“The advantage of the incomprehensible is that it never loses its freshness.”

—

Paul Valéry

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“The moment you decide an event is impossible and therefore stop directing your attention to it is the moment when it will take place.”

–

General Petro Grigorenko

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“This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: ‘At the time, no one knew what was coming.”

―

Haruki Murakami

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Well.

I have had several discussions about the future in one day and it continuously surprises me on how confident people are with regard to what will, or will not, happen. I find it slightly incomprehensible until I remember that the incomprehensible, in all its forms, has a certain allure.

The incomprehensible has a certain freshness of inevitable believability that some people are addicted to <and blind to the possibility it will never happen>.

Uh oh.

The incomprehensible has a certain inevitable un-believability that some people are married to (and blind to the possibility it could actually occur>.

The incomprehensible appeals to both those convinced it will never happen and to those who are convince it will happen.

Now. That said. We attack the incomprehensible in a variety of ways trying to comprehend it.

Pick your “assessing likelihood of incomprehensible” methodology but, well, 90% of new businesses fail, over 60% of new products fail and The Law of Unintended Consequences guarantees the unforeseen is almost more likely to happen than the foreseen. Even all that knowledge doesn’t slow us down one bit with our love/hate relationship with the unknown – the incomprehensible. We love the thought of finding something that seemed incomprehensible. We love that ‘holy shit’ feeling.

Here is the weird thing. All that said we plan our days to the minute, plan projects and tasks in excruciating detail and ‘plan out’ to eliminate any risk and uncertainty and incomprehensible we can feasibly plan out.

I would point out that all this really does is foster the timeless tradition of second guessing and seeking blame as soon as the incomprehensible occurs.

Regardless.

The incomprehensible always remains fresh because, as a Life truth, it consistently confirms to us that at no time no one knew what was coming.

Yup.

You can be pessimistic <and be proven right … or wrong>.

You can be optimistic <and be proven right … or wrong>.

But, in general, before being proven anything you are guessing. Sure. You can make an educated guess, and the odds may be higher or lower based on what you decide to do, but someone is lying if they say “I knew it was going to end up that way” … or “we should have seen that coming.”

That’s bullshit. We do not know. We often guess <sometimes well, sometimes not so well> under the guise of planning. Maybe worse is we often guess under the guise of ‘scrutinizing history.’

Uh oh. A fact.

‘History teaches by analogy, not identity.’

<Hank Kissinger … Hank to me>

People tend to mistake a study of history, or a historical moment, for proof of what is to come and, in fact, it sure does look like a frickin’ smart thing to do when going backwards in time and connecting dots <even when the connection is tenuous at best>. But, just a reminder about what Hank said: History teaches by analogy, not identity. This means that the lessons of history are never automatic or formulas for the future. The truth is that they can be apprehended only by admitting the significance of a range of multidimensional factors <unique context matters> and that the answers we obtain will never be better than the questions we pose.

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“From this, one can make a deduction which is quite certainly the ultimate truth of jigsaw puzzles: despite appearances, puzzling is not a solitary game: every move the puzzler makes, the puzzlemaker has made before; every piece the puzzler picks up, and picks up again, and studies and strokes, every combination he tries, and tries a second time, every blunder and every insight, each hope and each discouragement have all been designed, calculated, and decided by the other.”

―

Georges Perec, Life A User’s Manual

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Like it or not situations exist in time more than in space. At any given moment a moment is but a collection of individuals & things bringing to bear all their collective experiences & things. Reassembling that multi-dimension of ‘collective’ is nigh impossible. What this means is that when viewing past incomprehensible, trying to make it comprehensible, you will find it is contingent to a unique set of factors.

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“For the lessons of historical experience, as of personal experience, are contingent.

They teach the consequences of certain actions, but they cannot force recognition of comparable situations.

Henry Kissinger

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Uhm. Cannot force recognition of comparable situations. This is why I scratch my head when soe people are so sure on the future. If the incomprehensible is continegnt upon a nieq e set of factors than you would have to eb able to loking tnt some crystal ball which unravels what will BE unique (that is impossible isn’t it?) to see what the future configuarn of contingent factors.

That’s nuts. No one can do that.

In the end.

I believe all of us would probably like to have a better sense of how to plan for the future and to better understand the best and proper actions to take to maximize the future in some form or fashion.

Therefore we do the best we can, most often that means examining the past to assess actions affecting the future, trying to understand consequences for our decisions yet to be made. The intent is good and true.

However. We should never confuse honest intent with ‘what is right.’

We simply hear the echoes of footsteps but never meet their owners until they actually enter our lives. And, frankly, you cannot control all that ‘are coming by and by into our lives.’ At each point in time no one knew what was coming, therefore, no one can truly know what is coming. I imagine it is helpful for us to remind ourselves on occasion that just when we are absolutely positively 100% sure that something is impossible or incomprehensible — it occurs.

Here is the thing about the incomprehensible. We don’t know what we don’t know AND we don’t know half of what we really do know. It is difficult to accept the fact that today, in the moment, in the middle of change, no one … let me repeat … NO ONE has the right answer. We are simply asking the right questions at the moment and doing our best to adapt as we learn.

Change is about adapting.

Sure. Having a vision is good and there are multiple ways to reach the ‘end game. But, in the end, change is change and the incomprehensible is the incomprehensible. Plus. If we knew exactly what the change was and what was needed and what was truly incomprehensible & what wasn’t, well, we would be really smart sonuvabitches, wouldn’t we ?

“Without strategy, content is just stuff, and the world has enough stuff.”

Arjun Basu

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Alvin Toffler wrote in 1990 in discussion this business shift:

“Anyone who believes that we’re just going to leap into some sort of glorious new age is very unrealistic … far-reaching turmoil can be expected, as individuals and institutions either adapt to, or resist, change.”

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Well.

I have written about strategic thinking many times but one of the most read things I have ever written had to do with what I believe is the new normal for strategic approach <future business thinking & future business model> where I outline strategy is shifting from more of a strategic plan & implement model to a strategic stake in the ground & adapt to reality model.

Regardless of the model at the core of an organization’s strategic perspective are its people. Leaders can dictate strategy as much as they want but inevitably it is how their employees ‘think’ which will enable a vision to come to life.

I have always believed the best organizations have a mix of reasonable people <most>, unreasonable people <some> and visionaries <little>. With that formula in mind I continue to believe not only is the timing right for a new strategic perspective but that the time demands we approach strategy differently.

I believe this mainly for two reasons:

Technology has created a generational change in how strategy is viewed <in a good way>

Speed to adapt versus solid to market

Technology has changed everything with regard to how we think, how we act and how we strategize. Speed has woven its way into every aspect of strategy: speed to trust, speed to simplicity, speed to optimism and speed to adapt & inevitably organizational agility.

But.

While I believe this … I fully understand why many will be hesitant to take the new strategic approach.

In my long read narrative I outlined the ‘how different generations think’ aspect & today I focus more on risk & how you navigate risk. This topic is at the core of any new strategic planning process because we currently live in a risk-averse business world. Business leaders instinctively assume that risks outweigh possibilities almost 95% of the time <I made that % up>. While, frankly speaking, both possibilities and risks are ‘unknowns’ <speculative assessments> for some reason risks appear larger than possibilities and maybe that is so because risks can take on a variety of forms.

There are two basic kinds of risks.

Risks we can’t predict.

Risks that have been created by flawed assumptions made in the past but have been accepted as “givens”.

Yet. I don’t really care how you define a particular risk because when assessed they almost all seem to fall into the BHAG category <big, hairy, audacious goal>, or, ‘scary things to do.’The sense of any risk pushes back against any desire someone may have had to stretch outside their comfort zone. In fact. This feeling can become so strong someone doesn’t even decide upon challenges that make us a little nervous. This is a double negative in that because we do not even have new experiences to grow in confidence <we find things less scary after we actually do them>. People tend to magnify risk and discount reward when faced with rapid change and high uncertainty, prompting them to delay action or, at best, to make very modest and tentative moves.

I say all this as a preface to discussing strategy shifts because as more & more businesses seek ‘agility’ as a goal they will be more demanding of people to make decisions – i.e., take some risks.

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“It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.”

In general what I am speaking of is grounded in scenario strategic planning but with a Bruce twist. Most scenario planning models assess the landscape as an array of probabilities. Data wealthy driven assessments of a Future world. My version leans more into organizational knowledge because I believe if you can weave through bias blind spots a development of future state scenarios is not only possible but contains the elements of pragmatism the organization needs. What I typically encourage is a bookend scenario conclusion, i.e., the future state appears likely to be like this or this. Call them 2 mountains on the horizon. This enables an organization to envision an organization capable of zig zagging its way around an ever changing landscape not aiming toward one specific destination but more often the rich pastures which reside in between the mountains <with an ability to veer directly to one or the other as opportunity arises>.

Why do I do it this way?

It’s no longer a linear world.

In an multi dimensional world, it stands to reason that our traditional, linear approaches to strategy will need to be re-thought. strategies re now shaped by velocity and not by speed.

Traditionally we have looked at speed for strategy. This is efficiency in gaining our objectives & milestones. There is an inherent evenness in this approach. A desire to maintain consistency above all <as a means in attaining the strategy objectives>. In this view a strategist viewed the forest seeking positional advantages for the business to occupy and then create plans to occupy them. The grander view was one of a relatively static landscape where dynamics were driven only really by a forest fire or earthquake <the belief that that ground would remain relatively firm & changes were simply small obstacles worthy of being ignored in the grand scheme of things>.

This puts an emphasis on speed to get things done as a means of getting where you want to go.

The world changed where the world is more like The Matrix morphing in fits & starts & evolving unevenly at a faster rate increasing overall uncertainty.

This forces strategy to start taking a closer looks at trees rather than forest and velocity of actions rather than speed. You start leaning in on competencies more rather than possible competencies (<I sometimes call this the ‘stress of survival on strategy’>.

This word change also forces strategy to incorporate more nimbleness than linear thinking encouraged. It became a less straight line sledgehammer emphasis and more navigation emphasis. Strategy began taking on more ‘short term needs’ rather than long view wants. Strategy became, well, narrow. It left the big stuff to vision.

Here’s the problem. This seems less risky in narrowing decisions to the moment but it actually increases risk organizationally especially if you have grounded yourself on competencies which can be side swiped by someone who is better, faster & cheaper than you in that competency. Even worse? Your competency is the best at something that now is no longer needed or valued.

The other challenge strategy now encounters is putting guardrails on resources <which it has never ad to do before in a linear world>. All of a sudden strategy has to decide where to invest versus where not to invest. If it doesn’t, than the company risks racing to respond to all incoming actions without any ability to prioritize.

2 things can happen here:

Efforts continuously thin out and by the time you get where you want to go you don’t have the resources to effectively occupy the spot you want. You do a lot and get nowhere.

The activity is so overwhelming the strategy actually ‘freezes.’ Huh? You kill yourself overthinking everything for fear of risk <making the wrong decisions>.

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“We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap.”

Anthony Hopkins

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Velocity and trajectory

What we need to do at this point is to step back and reassess at a more basic level our approach to strategy. Rather than focusing on terrain, however narrowly or broadly defined, perhaps we should shift our attention to trajectory.

Here’s the paradox. At precisely the time that change is accelerating and uncertainty increasing, we need more than ever to have a clearer view of the possible trajectory of change and how it will reshape the future the strategy will exist in. at the same time e also need to assess what role we, and our strategy, can have in shaping the Future through our actions. Rather than simply taking them as a given. Our strategies need to contain velocity & trajectory to be competitive in an ever evolving environment.

This takes a little bit of insightful futuristic guessing <wow, there’s a word that will make every business sweat>. Rather than looking from the present out to the future, we need to look from the future back to the present to determine which actions will have the greatest impact and create the most economic value over time. The most effective strategies will be those that know where they are going and have the agility to accelerate into the most promising windows of opportunity.

The challenge is the strategy must focus on the most attractive and advantaged positions in future landscapes, not the current landscape, which does not even exist in the present.

Yes. The most advantaged positions in the future will tend to emerge and be shaped by significant economies of scale and network effects that will play out very quickly once critical mass has been achieved. Playing a wait and see game in the hope that things will become clearer over time can be very dangerous. By the time you see what’s happening, it may be too late to do anything about it. Fast followers in an exponential world will increasingly find that they are on a path to the grave.

Proactively shaping the future

In times of rapid change and growing uncertainty, we actually have far more degrees of freedom to restructure entire markets and industries than in more stable times. Yet, senior executives often fall into a passive, reactive posture in these kinds of environments, rather than exploring how they might proactively shape the future. Shaping strategies are classic strategies of trajectory – they begin by defining a desired market or industry structure and then focus on mobilizing third parties to invest to support the shaping strategy. Strategies of trajectory are ultimately about measuring movement in a particular direction. Any strategy of trajectory must therefore be explicit about the metrics that will indicate whether we’re on track to establishing the desired position in the future.

Here is the last challenge. The past rarely teaches us how to manage the future <let alone predict it>. Strategists, and business, needs to resist the temptation to focus on indicators telling us how we have done. Wherever possible, identify operating metrics that are effective leading indicators of the kind of performance you are seeking to achieve. And focus on operating metrics that are specific to the desired position in the future even if these operating metrics are marginal to your current business performance.

Here’s the next thought that will make businesses sweat: forget about performance snapshots that focus on your performance at any specific point in time. Strategies of trajectory focus on acceleration – they’re about performance over time. Is your performance stable, increasing linearly or accelerating? If it’s not accelerating in an exponential world, something is wrong. So, strategies of trajectory are relentlessly focused on patterns of movement over time. What exists in the present is important, but only to the extent that it provides resources to support you to be agile enough to get you where you want to go by enabling small moves, smartly made, to get big things in motion

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“The world is not as simple as we like to make it out to be. The outlines are often vague and it’s the details that count. Nothing is really truly black or white and bad can be a disguise for good or beauty … and vice versa without one necessarily excluding the other.

Someone can both love and betray the object of its love … without diminishing the reality of the true feelings <and value>.

Life <and business whether we like to admit it or not> is an uncertain adventure in a diffuse landscape whose borders are constantly shifting where all frontiers are artificial <therefore unique is basically artificial in its inevitable obseletion> where at any moment everything can either end only to begin again … or finish suddenly forever … like an unexpected blow from an axe.

Where the only absolute, coherent, indisputable and definitive reality … is death. We have such little time when you look at Life … a tiny lightning flash between two eternal nights.

Everything has to do with everything else.

Life is a succession of events that link with each other whether we want them to or not.”

Arturo Perez Revarte

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Strategy and the organizational future.

When people discuss strategy far too often they ignore managing the organization. It is almost like they forget that they are not developing a concept but rather a path to success for a business. I do believe many strategy people are too philosophical or esoteric. By that I mean if they truly have confidence in whatever strategic perspective they are providing than they need to acknowledge the true organizational repercussions.

In a time of agility, learning <and unlearning> is essential to success. Whatever we know today is depreciating in value at an increasing rate. Velocity in navigating a multi dimensional world is ultimately about how to accelerate learning at scale.

The paradox <or contradiction>: the more time we take to reflect on our experiences, the faster we’ll be able to move. I would note this is only true if the business has a clear vision. The vision puts guardrails on the reflection so that the thinking, and learning, has a purpose.

The future of strategy is uncertain <but it’s certain to play an important role>. In fact, the only thing we truly know about the future is that it will be different from today. I state that point because this translates into specific organizational design and people and culture.

If we do not have a detailed blueprint of that future landscape – all we need is enough detail to give us a sense of direction and to help us make some difficult choices in the near-term. You need empowered people to adapt the strategy to the swirling surface events that emerge unpredictably and just as quickly disappear.

Strategy in this environment is becoming more and more difficult and will not permit is to fall back into our comfort zone and just focus on the present, leaving us vulnerable to the changes just ahead. Only a few will venture beyond their comfort zone. Those few who craft strategies to focus action today based on an anticipated future that’s quite different from today will be in the best position to reap the rewards of a rapidly changing environment. They will stand out from the rest of us who are scrambling to respond to the latest event and, in the process, spreading our limited time and resources more and more thinly.

This will demand a skill at scenario development. This will also demand a skill of unlearning <as scenarios dissolve & recreate before our eyes>. Yes. “Unlearning” means strategy will have to abandon some of our most basic beliefs about how the world works and what is required for success. I’m a proponent of scenario development as a tool to identify, assess and ultimately achieve alignment around potential futures. One of the great elements of scenario development is that it explicitly starts with the proposition of alternative futures. That in itself helps to pull us out of our comfort zones and challenges our preconceptions about where the future is headed. But, from my experience, this needs to be combined with two other elements to really challenge our most deeply held beliefs about the world around us and about the actions that will lead to success.

It will demand what Toffler suggested: porous organizations where different skills combine to make multi dimension teams envisioning a multi-dimensional future. These teams will constantly challenge not only the overarching strategy but, ultimately, poke & prod at the leadership vision.

It will demand agile overarching initiatives. Within scenario development the organization is aligned on the most likely scenarios and the key initiatives to position the business within that scenario <and resources/funding aligned behind them>.

Neither of these things embrace a passive mindset. In fact. I could argue these two things are in conflict with each other <therefore insuring learning, unlearning & some agility>.

Agility isn’t just a strategy it’s a corporate mindset which flows into every aspect of how an organization thinks, approaches tings & does things. I end there because all of this talk about “agile companies” is just stupid unless a business embraces it as way of doing things not just aspects or projects.

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Sourcing: This piece has lain dormant in my draft folder for over 3 years as I honed my own scenario strategic planning quasi-skills, therefore, any sources I may have used to access some thoughts have gone by the wayside. I apologize if I veered a little too closely to some else’s thoughts & would be pleased if someone asked for some credit. All thoughts in this piece are things I have discussed for years.

It is the partner piece because, while numbers are losing their mojo, more and more people in business are substituting data for traditional numbers and want data to make their decision for them.

Yes. I could point to the overwhelming amount of data <numbers> now being cranked out as the reason why this issue is reaching a business crisis level but I will not. The truth is that all big data does is amplify the situation – more and more business people suck at making decisions, suck at assuming personal responsibility for decisions and suck at thinking thru the true meaning of the numbers available to them <as a version of what I said yesterday — suck at seeing the real shadows of the numbers>.

Just as the fact we need to get our shit together with regard to telling the stories that numbers truly tell us <rather than do shit guided by ‘instinct’ and ‘what we feel’> we need to get our shit together with regard to how we use numbers & data to INFORM decisions and not MAKE decisions.

(note: this argument used to be “research should be used to INFORM decisions and not MAKE decisions”)

This discussion gains importance because in today’s world it isn’t just ‘big data’ but it is analyzing research, spreadsheets, hell, just the sheer # of everyday numbers that overwhelm you in the everyday standard operating procedures in business.

We need to be teaching that not all 2’s are created equal <not all numbers are created equal> and that even though a number may be big, or even small, just counting it doesn’t mean it counts. We need to be teaching young business people that what counts is what the numbers say … as in ‘what do they express’.

Here is the truth about numbers.

Numbers, data & research more often than not, are simply directional signs toward truth … but rarely do they tell the truth in their simplicity. Okay. They rarely tell the whole truth. And they never are a substitute for judgement.

I sometimes fear on occasion we are crafting a generation of business people who view numbers as the answer for everything.

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“I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.”

David Ogilvy

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To be fair, this is not the younger generation’s problem, it is more a leadership & management issue.

We absolutely have reached a point in business, in particular within organizations of any critical size, where risk is a swear word. And even if you take the risk you are putting your job on the line. With all that hanging over heads you do grab onto a lamp post whenever you can spot one.

And, let’s face it; numbers are strewn throughout whatever street you decide to walk upon so, if needed, one is always available to show to explain your decision.

It is up to older managers to teach the nuances and how to use numbers to inform the final judgements.

But it is quite possible we could live with this if this is all that was happening.

The other thing that should strike fear into the hearts of businesses is how older managers, overwhelmed with all the ‘big data’ available and younger people who easily rummage through all the data available combine to, with mostly good intentions, seek numbers to find out what to do next.

They do not translate what the numbers mean but use actual numbers as directional signs on where to go next.

This is dangerous.

Now. Someone will say “no, it is not dangerous, as long as you know the objective.” ”Wrong” is what I would say back. For them to be right they have to assume that the best path toward the objective is the straightest line possible.

Well.

If I am a commodity product or service or maybe even the lowest price product or service <and, remember, there can only be one lowest price in any category> this could possibly be true, however, if “value” enters into any discussion with regard to what you are doing or what you are selling … the straightest path may not be what you want … or need.

To be clear. What I just typed … what I just shared … rarely is discussed in today’s business world. Why? Well … first … anything that suggests “not fast” or “not optimal speed” suggests ‘less than efficient’ which in today’s world is “bad.”

<or “sad”>

Second … to discuss value in this way sounds … uhm … complex or complicated … and if there are two words that could be construed as swear words in today’s business world it would be those two. simplicity, at the expense of anything and everything else, is the go-to place for a shitload of business people and , in particular, business people who would like numbers to tell them what to do.

Anyway. Once I suggested numbers are losing their mojo. Today I am suggesting business people may not be using numbers & data in the most effective way <to maximize the benefit of the organization, product or service>.

And tomorrow I will not be writing about numbers but I can tell ya that numbers will still be misused and misdiscussed.

And we better figure that out soon or businesses are gonna get screwed.